Sunday, December 27, 2009

Firstly, one from the vault: Digable on Letterman in 1993 performing a sunny rendition of Where I'm From. Check out Doodlebug's dance moves! I'm convinced that things were better then. Not in type, just degree. As Ish has argued in his "Excerpt from Curse Words" address on shabazzpalaces.com the last twenty years have seen a marked degradation masquerading as 'progress'. '93 still had about it an air of the 80s that was nothing but a memory by '97.

Secondly, the Digable show at Anaheim's House of Blues from Sep 17th 2008. I personally remember the electric atmosphere at the London show in Febuary 2005 but this was on another level altogether, thanks in part to Victor Tapia's brilliant percussion. Songs: Rebirth of Slick (remix), An untitled new track [presumably meant for the ill-fated reunion LP], another unidentified new track [with Ish's lyrics from SP's "A Mess.."], and an undescribably cool renditon of Pacifics. In 2 parts.

Thirdly, a rare interview by WBC Magazine, from last month. Digable Planets is now officially Ish and C-Knowledge, aka 'The Oil Brothers'. Interesting name... Oil features largely in Shabazz Palaces' iconography as I hope to discuss in a later post.

Fourthly, and bringing the story to the present, the Shabazz Palaces show on KEXP radio has been uploaded onto 'You Tube' complete with visuals, lyrics, and 800-year old Sufi poetry from Rumi, thanks to an appreciative fan going by the name of Koobkang.

Looking ahead, Shabazz Palaces will be playing their first show at Neumos in Seattle, WA on January 8th 2010. There's a huge buzz surrounding this date so expect a sell out and get your tickets soon... and someone, please, record it!